Vees lose 6-3 on the road in Wenatchee

A hat-trick from Owen Sillinger wasn’t enough for the Penticton Vees to defeat the Wenatchee Wild in their first game after the Christmas break.

The Vees (22-8-2-2) began the second half of the season with a road trip to Wenatchee (24-9-2-1) for a two-game weekend against the Wild, losing the Friday game 6-3 loss.

Sillinger opened the scoring with a wrist shot from the left wall, claiming his 16th goal of the year just 1:32 into the game.

A little over six minutes later, the Wild’s AJ Vanderbeck had a breakaway from the high slot after a turnover at the Vees blue line. He went forehand-backhand on Vee’s goalie Nolan Hildebrand to tie the game at one, where it stayed for the rest of the first.

The Wild dominated the second period with Vanderbeck scoring his second of the game on a power play 3:25 in, with Jasper Weatherby extended the Wild lead just 46 seconds later with his 26th of the season.

The Vees got a goal back after Sillinger converted on a nice centring feed from below the goal line by Jared Nash for his second of the night.

Just under three minutes later, Chad Sasaki restored the Wild’s two-goal lead with a wrist shot from the right circle, beating Hildebrand glove side.

Sam Morton rounded out the scoring in the period with 2:46 left, signalling the end of the night for Hildebrand as Adam Scheel relieved him for the remainder of the game.

Josh Arnold scored the Wild’s second power-play goal of the game after the Wild held the puck in the Vees zone for an entire 1:36. The Vees penalty kill unit couldn’t clear the zone and after Scheel made one stop on Vanderbeck, Arnold slid the rebound home to make it 6-2.

Sillinger completed his hat trick just two seconds after a power play expired, shovelling in a cross-ice feed from Jonny Tychonick in front of the net with 4:49 left in the third. The goal set a new career high for Sillinger, his 18th goal of the year.

Despite the third period being as even as the first, the big second period by the Wild was too much for the Vees to overcome as the game ended 6-3.

The Vees face the Wild again tonight (Dec. 30) at 7:05 p.m. in the Town Toyota Centre.